How Integrating Direct Mail and Email Can Boost Sales
Omnichannel Success
In this omnichannel age of marketing, multiple impressions across channels not only heighten your brand awareness, they increase your likelihood of sales and conversions. The proper combination of email and direct mail serves as an excellent example of this principle, and is well worth taking the time to both understand and implement. While each channel has its own respective core strengths and weaknesses, many marketers don’t take advantage of the fact that they can actually synergize and supplement one another when used in tandem.Here are three ways that fusing email with direct mail can help your business increase ROI and drive profits:
Re-Engage Non-Responders
While email is cheaper to send and can be easily automated, the average person is overwhelmed by so many emails each day. Therefore, most emails wind up ignored, sent to the trash bin, or simply forgotten – resulting in no further response or engagement.Direct mail, on the other hand, achieves much higher open and response rates than email. Most people still read the physical mail that they receive, even if they are ultimately disposed of. If you have a key message that simply isn’t being read via repeated emails, you can easily create a list of those not responding to your emails, and use their information to craft a highly-personalized and targeted direct mail piece. This personal touch can help you to reach members of you base that likely would not have returned otherwise.
Reach Out to Prospects for New Customer Acquisition [PURLs]
It is generally frowned upon (and in some places punishable by law) to send emails to prospective customers without their consent. However, initial acquisition efforts via direct mail does not pose the same issues, and you can use your direct mail message to direct potential customers to a personal landing page – also known as PURLs.PURLs usually include a recipient’s name in the web address. Including PURLs allow you to generate actionable data from those who engage with your direct mail efforts. You can also use QR codes, loyalty discounts, and single-use redeemable coupons to help increase engagement across digital channels.PURLs also give marketers the ability to measure response and conversion rates for a direct mail campaign and create custom audiences in order to retarget them later.In addition, PURLs can help you measure and retarget your direct mail recipients. If you invest in PURL tracking software, you can use the results to help inform future marketing campaigns.
Complementary Campaigns
When combined together, both email and direct mail can be designed in a way that they complement one another.Simply put, combining email and direct mail can offer an extremely effective one-two punch and bring in sales that would not have been possible through either channel alone. With so much competition in the retail and e-commerce sphere, it is more necessary than ever to find ways to stand out, carve your own footprint, and maximize ROI from your campaigns. Getting the most out of each channel is essential in omnichannel marketing, so you might as well use one to supplement the other.